Minnesota residents were fuming over the state government shutdown. |
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By TIM MAK | 7/1/11 6:33 AM EDT
Updated: 7/1/11 2:02 PM EDT

Angry Minnesota residents were fuming Friday over the state government shutdown — delaying the issuance of marriage licenses, evicting campers from state parks and furloughing about 23,000 nonessential government employees.

Despite an appointment, Bridget Spaniol of Minneapolis waited 3½ hours at a courthouse for a marriage license Thursday, as the goverment slowed to a crawl. “The whole experience … was terrible,” she told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I feel sorry for anyone trying to get anything processed through the Minnesota government.”

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Gov. Dayton on shutdown

POLITICO 44

State parks were also closed, which meant the sudden eviction of the 130 campsites at William O’Brien State Park. Water and electricity was shut off at the camp sites, meaning the campgrounds would be vacated on the eve of the July 4th weekend, typically one of the busiest weekends for state parks.
“This is so unfair,” said 8-year-old camper Ashley Jensen. “We were going to be here for four days and do lots of fun stuff. It’s now all ruined.”

“This is pretty sad, that they’ve ruined so many people’s summer vacations with their families,” said Allen Bjerke, who serves as campground host. “The Legislature is behaving like a bunch of kids.”
One visible sign of the shutdown is that no flags — Minnesota, American, or POW-MIA — were raised over the Capitol on Friday morning as they usually are, reports the AP.

State employees whose livelihoods depend on the government were bracing for a blow to their pocketbooks as statewide furloughs went into effect for nonessential staff.

“My fiancé works for the [Pollution Control Agency]. We are supposed to close on our house a month from today, and if he’s laid off that could potentially affect our financing. … I’m disgusted by them all, both political parties,” Emily Flynn, of Minneapolis, told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

“My son has Down syndrome, and he will lose his state-funded job at Functional Industries, which is out in Buffalo, Minn. We were sent a letter from his state-funded house but as of now, he will still be able to live there. Totally innocent victim,” said Carolyn Bauer, of Albertville, Minn.

The shutdown will also hit the private sector.

For example, the renewal of professional and liquor licenses will be halted. James Nelson, owner of The Independent bar and restaurant in Uptown Minneapolis, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the business will be shuttered during the government shutdown due to a liquor license issue.

Pharmacies were feeling the squeeze, as the Human Services Department for the first time postponed its June pharmacy payments until July as another budget gimmick to balance the books.

Readers' Comments (158)

All the Democrats know is raise the taxes,,,,How about cut down your budget like we are doing in our household ???? What are you Democrats going to do after you spend all of our money and we do not have any jobs left ????

Better get used to it. You're going to see more and more of this around the country as people will have to begin to face the hard truth that the public sector unions have cleaned out the till. There is no more money left. They have set up an unholy alliance with the Democratic party to exchange their votes for taxpayer funded pay and benefits far in excess of what we can afford to pay. Other services will have to be cut to support the union contracts.

You could raise taxes, of course, and drive the businesses out of your state - but then you'd only make the deficits worse. It's time to face the fact that the only way out of this financial mess is to spend less.

This article is B.S. Most of the "protesters" are people feeding at the public trough. Most Minnesota residents are not going to notice this "shutdown" except for a few minor inconveniences. I welcome the shutdown and I hope they keep it shutdown all summer.

The GOP is only interested in protecting wealthy deadbeats. They want regular hard working Americans to starve to death as all their hard earned dollars are siphoned into the bank accounts of the already fat bloated and greedy rich. Those who have drunk the koolaid of Norquist's mindless anti- tax mantra prove that they want this nation to be destroyed: "shrunk down so it is small enough to drown in the bathtub". That makes him and his followers enemies of our Country. True Patriots who care about our country and our people believe in SHARED SACRIFICE. The Wall Street and Multinational corporations do not need and do not deserve a "free lunch".

Gov. Dayton gave the legislature no choice. He refused to sign thier bills, which INCREASED spending in many areas including education. The legislature needs to stand firm and wait for Dayton to come to his sences (of course, many MN's didn't vote for him because we knew he is not really "all there.").

Stand firm legislature, its better to have a "tough" summer than to be in the situations of California and NY, they are looking at tough decades.

Yes, a family in financial hardship tighten their belts. But they ALSO find ways to bring more money into the household. What they don't do is starve mom and the kids to death so that Daddy can have an overflowing table full of food.

The GOP is acting like irresponsible teenage brats who want to burn the house down because they are asked to pitch in with family chores.

Fiscal constraint is a good thing. If this is what it takes to get some of it, I'm all for it. The state of Minnesota has never been shy or humble about taxing its residents. In fact, they're pretty arrogant about it.

Whatever outrage there is is pretty much limited to the parasite class.

Yes, a family in financial hardship tighten their belts. But they ALSO find ways to bring more money into the household. What they don't do is starve mom and the kids to death so that Daddy can have an overflowing table full of food.

The GOP is acting like irresponsible teenage brats who want to burn the house down because they are asked to pitch in with family chores.

The real parasites are Wall Street, and multinational Corporations who use our highways, our public water/sewer systems, our courts, our municipal (fire and police) services but then dodge their tax responsibilities with loopholes and hiding profits in "headquarters" that are the of a milk crate in some warehouse overseas. THOSE are the Deadbeats sucking this country dry.

The nonsense is that they're making businesses prepay sales taxes, yet they aren't getting paid money the government owes them for products or services sold to the government. That is complete and total ridiculousness. I think every business in Minnesota ought to refuse to pay any taxes until the state pays the monies owed when they're owed. If Minnesota (and the Federal government) wants to play accounting tricks, then the executives (state officials) involved ought to be prosecuted for fraud. If a private accounting firm did what Minnesota is doing with payment holdovers, they'd be arrested.

The accounting and budgetary processes of the government make Enron look like a church bake sale. What Democrats don't seem to understand is that it's impossible to tax your way to fiscal health. If the top 5% of earners had the entirety of their wealth confiscated, it still would only pay 1/14th of the federal debt. We need to cut regulations and get the government out of the way of the people who create wealth (and jobs.) Unions, nanny-state departments, school lunches, the Social Security Ponzi scheme, Medicaid fraud, Medicare under-reimbursement and medical care cross-subsidization -- all of those things are crushing the greatest economy in the history of the world. Minnesota is simply a microcosm of the rest of the county. The left ought to have learned something from the Lada and Trabant in the old Soviet bloc.

I'm not outraged either. Why is our state government involved in so many things? Why do we need them to offer certifications and licenses? When I buy an appliance, I look for a UL certification, not for something that is Minnesota State Government approved.

I propose that we commit to shutting down the state government for six months, which should be time enough for all the state supported agencies to appeal to the courts to prove they are essential services.

At the end of the six months, we can dissolve the proven non-essential agencies.

I'm presuming at that point we will have lots and lots of people demanding a business friendly environment, as all those workers are going to need private sector jobs.

I'm sure we won't have any problems at all funding the government under those circumstances.

After long contemplation and personal struggle with my "Minnesota Nice," I have decided that this is not working for me - so, you are fired.

I have thought long-and-hard about the great things our state has to offer, including our beautiful parks and our state workers that continue the outstanding Minnesota work ethics tradition that we are known for. You have decided the things we take pride in are not vital. I disagree, so yes, you are fired.

I thought about my own job description and, boy are you lucky to have worked as long as you have. Consider yourself fortunate. In this economy, I am sure there are many that would take your pay, settle the budget and actually do what they were hired to do. Yes, you are fired. What is your job description anyways, state? Did it include shunning those that looked to you for support? If so, then that is one check in your corner. If, on the other hand, it included securing a budget, which by all accounts it probably did, this is why we are having this frank discussion. Also, I have found your people skills lacking. You're fired.

At my job, I have people I am accountable to and I can't just walk away or throw a fit if I disagree. But, I am sure you know this. Do you think that good business rules don't apply to you?

As we finalize this separation agreement, I want you to know that everyone in this state IS vital. And, it hurts to hear you say that some are not. Have you ever heard the saying,"actions speak louder than words?" Your words are loud and clear and unacceptable. You are fired. I think that it is time that you reflect and time is running out.

Play nice on the playground (if it's not closed), do the job you were hired to do and apologize to the state of Minnesota for having to listen to your childish squabbles at our expense - or yes, you are fired!

It can't be possible that its all the multinational corporations' fault. After all, most of those corporations are unionized and the unions are nothing more than labor monopolies. Why would I pay a guy to bang a hammer $80 per hour when I can get a Chinese guy to do it for $5 an hour? It regulation that's sucking the country dry. When I need to get five different licenses, a variety of permits, pay over 12 different taxes (payroll, sales, unemployment, property, income, city and state taxes, county taxes, water taxes, telecommunications taxes, fuel taxes, and "carbon" taxes in some places) what incentive to I have as a business owner to locate my business in the United States? I'm patriotic, I love my country, I served as an Army officer, OCS, Airborne, 3d Rangers -- I've put my blood on the field for the United States, yet I don't consider it my patriotic duty to bankrupt my business simply to pay for the 50% of Americans who pay no taxes! It isn't the "rich" or the "corporations" that are the problem -- it's the welfare queens on food stamps with 5 children from different fathers who still have enough money to get their nails "did" and watch their "stories" on their plasma TV. It's the unions forcing companies to pay employees to sit in rubber rooms. It's the Obama-types that want to force people to buy $10 light bulbs and subsidize and environmentally stupid car like the Chevy Volt (check the carbon footprint of the battery production.) That's the problem. The multinational corporations along with hard-working small business owners -- they are the only ones that create jobs. Government doesn't create jobs -- entrepreneurs create jobs. Stop blaming "big" business -- big business is the reason you have a car, air conditioning and computers. It wasn't the government that invented or produced those things. Your quality of life is high despite government, not because of it. If you want to see the results of central planning on industry, have a look at the East German Trabant and see how well that car worked.

I love that term. If they are non-essential then why are we paying for them in the first place? Any non-essential job should be at risk when you have a budget deficit. WE need to apply that to the Feds. Like the Department of Education. Does it really have a function? We could save $100 billion right there and apply it to the debt.

I bet you don't see anyone who works for themselves in that crowd protesting about the government shutdown.

For example, the renewal of professional and liquor licensing will be halted. James Nelson, owner of The Independent bar and restaurant in Uptown Minneapolis, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the business will be shuttered during the government shutdown due to a liquor license issue

Why would these people shut down? there is nobody to enforce it? I would do it and beg forgiveness before shutting down my business.

And here is the crux of the issue. Government is out of control at all levels, and partisan politics affects the citizens. We as citizens need to have the guts to tell them to jump in a lake if they can't get their act together. I will be damned if i continue to let the government mess up my life or that of my employees. We have suffered enough through the economic crisis that rests solely on the Fed and the government. I am not putting up with it.

Still working on the lawsuit to sue the Fed and the US Government for the loss of value of our assets and the loss of business due to their negligent and corrupt policies.

Gov. Dayton gave the legislature no choice. He refused to sign thier bills, which INCREASED spending in many areas including education. The legislature needs to stand firm and wait for Dayton to come to his sences (of course, many MN's didn't vote for him because we knew he is not really "all there.").

For those of us here in Minnesota that understand basic math and algebra. We know for a fact that a clear majority of MN voters voted for a balanced approach to the MN deficit problem.

DFL Mark Dayton 43.6 %

GOP Tom Emmer 43.2 %

Ind Tom Horner 11.9 %

Both Horner and Dayton campaigned on raising revenue. Emmer was the only one who did not

As such the two candiates that advocated raising revenue through a tax increase recieved 55.5 % of the vote. My basic understanding of math tells me that more folks voted to use a balanced approach to the solving the budget deficit in MN than to cut our way to prosperity.

I like the one where the female says that her fiance' works for some government agency and they will be hurt by this shutdown. I will bet you that they have kids together and she files her taxes as a single mother and gets CHIPS, food stamps, free day care and every other free lunch possible including three or four thousand dollars cash each spring from EIC.. I used to own rental properties and believe me, this is the norm not the exception.